Every winter, a magical boy with a wild spirit named Jack Frost arrives in town. He wears a white cape, and his role is to cover everything with frost and ice. But Jack Frost also gets pleasure from playing tricks on common folks.

One dark winter evening, he was sitting on the rail of a fence near a river, pointing at some trees. When he did so, there was a pop, and the trees were evenly covered in frost.

Then old Tom Muggins came along the path. He was carrying a basket of ingredients for his wife’s cake recipe. “I’ll have some fun with him!” said Jack Frost. He pointed, and suddenly there was a patch of ice on the path. Poor Tom slipped and fell into the river. The bags of flour, fruit and sugar fell open and got wet. A couple of eggs broke, and a stick of butter shrank in the water. Tom gathered the ingredients and climbed out of the river. The food made an absolute mess of the path. “Alas!” he cried. “There’ll be no cake for me!”

Jack Frost laughed at poor Tom because his nice suit got soaked as well. “Are you cold?” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll make you warm!” He pointed at the mess in Tom’s basket. Suddenly, there was a spark. What was left of the food caught fire! Jack Frost ran off laughing.

Poor Tom sat by the fire. He could only envision how angry his wife would be. He wished he had been more attentive and noticed that Jack was around.

Suddenly, a pleasant smell came from the basket. Tom looked inside. The butter was melting and the eggs were starting to cook! Even the fruit began to simmer. Soon there was a fat, brown pudding in the basket! Tom tasted it. It was delicious! He happily took it home for dessert. Although Jack Frost had tried to make Tom’s life difficult, Jack had actually made Tom a wonderful pudding!